In the 18th century, a religious and social movement arose in Russia, called the Old Believers, or schism. The reason for it was the reforms of Nikon, the Moscow patriarch, to whom he embarked in 1653 with the goal of strengthening the church. Their essence was reduced to the unification of the system of theology throughout the country. Firstly, the implementation of the Nikon reform was planned to be carried out through the elimination of absolutely all the differences in the conduct of the rites. It was also necessary to eliminate the discrepancies in the books that were used in the service. There were also such zealots of the faith, led by Protopope Habakkuk and Daniel, who believed that the church reform of Patriarch Nikon should be carried out based on ancient Russian writings. The patriarch insisted on following the patterns adopted in Greece. In his opinion, such a step was to contribute to the unification of all the Orthodox churches of Asia and Europe under the Moscow leadership.
The reforms of Nikon supported the king himself. This explains the persistence of the patriarch and his confidence in his actions. Soon he appointed the Council of all the bishops of the Russian land, which recognized the need for the immediate correction of rites and church literature. The second convocation, at which, apart from the hierarchs of Rus, the Serbian and Antiochian patriarchs also arrived, took place in 1656. On it, the corrected books were fully approved. The churches were ordered to use them in worship, and the former to be burned.
The first steps were taken back in 1653. Then all the churches were ordered to make some changes in the ritual concerning bowing, laying the cross. The printing yard began to publish books in a new pattern. The defenders of the former rites were declared heretics and anathematized.
A change in some of the moments of the Creed occurred after it was compared with the counterpart adopted in the Greek churches. But the schismatics of Nikon's reform refused to accept categorically. For them, this meant betraying the faith of the ancestors, traditions that have been observed for centuries. The Old Believers perceived the innovations as an attempt on something untouchable, sacred. The followers of Nikon, on the contrary, believed that these reforms would help the church out of the looming crisis. Such a move was also politically motivated. The role of Russia as the heiress of Byzantium and the protector of all the Orthodox could not be realized if it did not coordinate its books and rituals with those norms that are accepted in other Orthodox countries.
Finally, the Nikonians established themselves in the correctness of their chosen path after reunification with Little Russia.
The church schism and its consequences were more unexpected than the patriarch and his supporters expected. The confrontation with reform was massive. Old Believers were relentless from their beliefs. They accused the Nikonians of declaring the heretical to be heretical, thereby questioning the correctness of the canonization of saints in Russia and the decisions adopted at Stoglav Cathedral, that is, all that was the basis of faith.
True, the conflict was caused not only by the reform of the patriarch. Social problems also affected . The Old Believers were concerned about the decline in church authority due to the fact that the tsar began to play the role of the viceroy of God on earth, and began to actively participate in resolving those issues that were previously only in the competence of clergy. They accused the new, ignorant clergy of spoiling the people, oppressing and removing them from themselves.
As much as a third — a third of the state’s population — went into a split. And after the Council, held in 1666-1667, decided on the exiles and executions of opponents of the reform, it acquired a mass character. Despite the repressive measures taken by the authorities, after the Streletsky revolt in 1682, the number of Old Believers grew. Instead of strengthening society, a new turmoil was brewing. Nikon resolved this issue by deprivation of authority and sending the leaders of the schism into exile.
But soon the patriarch himself suffered. The intrigues of the boyars ruined his relationship with the king. In 1658, Nikon voluntarily imprisoned himself in the Voskresensky monastery, and another eight years later a trial was held over him, at which the patriarch was deprived of his dignity and sent to the Belozersky monastery to repent.
And yet, the work of the defenders of antiquity still did not go uphill even after the disgrace of the chief reformer. The same Council, which judged Nikon, condemned the philosophies' scholars as well, calling them heresy and anathema.